Improvement in car-brakes



` BEUBEN'HURE or lironnrsom'innmors.-

" IMPROVEMENT lN cAR-BRAKES.

speicannrtrmmg part of Letters Patent No. 104,738, dated June 2e, 1870.

To all whom it 'may concern:

Beit known that I, REUBEN HURD, of Morrison, in the county of Whitesidesand State of Illinois, have invented"` an Improvement in Car-Brakes; andI do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription "thereof, reference being had to thelaccompa- `nyin gdrawing, and to the letters of reference 4marked thereon.

Figure v1 is a plan view of my improved brake, showing the parts'inposition and the means for operating them. Fig. 2 is a longitudinalvertical section, taken on the line a: .r of Fig. l.

` Similar letters of reference designate identical parts in bothfigures.

This invention relates to an improvement in brakes for railroad-cars;and it consists -in the method of operating such brakes, and in thecombination and arrangement of the parts, as will be more fullydescribed hereinafter.

The importanceof having a brake so constructed and arranged as that itcan be applied to the wheels of a car when in motion, and with anyrequired amount of force, has long been known and appreciated byrailroad men, and this improvement is intended to sup'- ply such want.V-

To enable others skilled in the art to which my invention relates tomake and use the` san1e,^I will proceed to describe its construction andoperation. r

A A in the drawings refer to wheels, which may` be of any approvedconstruction, and be secured to axles in the usual manner, such axleshaving their bearings in journal-boxes working in pedestals secured tothe truck or frame of the car in the usual manner. B B refer to thetruck or car-frame to which the parts are attached, and by which theyare supported.

This f rame may be of any desired form of con- 4 struction that willadapt it to receive the operating `parts of the mechanism, its generaloutline being shown'in Fig. 1 of the drawing. C O refer to thebrake-blocks, of which there are to be four to each truck or car. Theyare to be pivoted to the frame of the car, from which pivoted point theyextend downward, and are madeto conform to the periphery of the wheel,and to embrace a portion of the circumference thereof, as shown in saidligure. D refers to a rod of metal, which has upon or v near its ends ascrew thread or threads, one

to be a right-hand, and the other .to be a lefthandone, so that as therod is turned the nuts upon the opposite ends thereof may be carried invopposite directions. This rod or screw has its bearings in the endsofthe frame B, through one end of which it extends for a sufficientdistance to receive a gear-wheel and a crank, with -which to turn thesaine. At the center of this -screw or rod there is placed two collars,be-

tween which there is a journal which rests in a cross -bar upon theframe, the object being to prevent the longitudinal movement of saidscrew. Dl Dl refer to nuts which yare fitted tothe screws upon the rodD, they being provided with arms or extensions upon them for thereception of links D2 which connect them to the levers E in the mannershown in Fig. 1. E E refer to levers which are pivoted to the cross-barE at the center of the frame B B, from which point they extend to andconnect with wedges F F, soon to be described. These levers areconnected in such a manner thatas the rod D is rotated the outer ends ofthe leverswill be carried outward or in a line at right angles to theaxis of the rod or screws, theiraction being like that of atoggle-joint, and as a matter of course enabling the operator to applythe blocks G C to the wheels with any required amount of force. F Frefer to wedges which are pivoted to the outer ends of levers E E, andslide in guides F F attached to the inner surfaces of the ends of frameB. The outer ends of these wedges are pointed,y to enable them to passbetween rollers, and thus force the .blocks into contact with thewheels. G G referto the rollers above alluded to, the outer ones havingtheir bearings in the frame B, while the inner ones have theirs in thebrake-blocks C C, or in boxes attached thereto. These rollers aredisposed vertically, as shown in Fig. 2, so thatas the wedges F F areforced outward their pointed ends shall enter the space between suchrollers, and force the brake-block against the wheels without loss offorce by friction, and so that they may be Withdrawn readily when it isdesired to release the brakesfrom contact with the wheels. H refers toa'counter-shaft, which is secured to the frame B, so as to be parallelto the rod or screw D. Upon the outer end of this shaft there is placeda gear-wheel, H', which is to mesh with and drive the one on the end ofrod or screw D. rEllis WheelY may be rotated by means of a crankupon'the outer end of its shaft, or it may have upon its face beveledteeth, which may mesh into a beveled pinion upon the vertical shaft towhich the brake- Wlleel is attached, or it may be operated in any othermanner, according to the position in which it is placed. y

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Let ters Patent of the United States, is-

The combination ofthe rod or screw D, nuts two attesting witnesses. l

REUBEN HURD.

Witnesses:

JOSEPH R. EDSON, O. F. CLAUSEN.

